Can you see a tree from where you’re
sitting right now? How about a plant?
Anything living, besides other people?
Can you open the window and take a big
breath of fresh air?
If your answer to these questions is no,
if you’re one of those people who spends
all day breathing the lifeless output of
a building-ventilation system, then you
may be encountering nature deficit.
And it’s ma king your life less enjoyable,
less healthy, a nd more stressed.
We are in the midst of the largest
wave of urbanization in human history.
The United Nations reports that more
than half of all people on Earth now live
in cities. For A mericans, the figure is
even starker: 80% are urban dwellers.
And get this: the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency reports that the average
American spends 90% of his or her time
indoors.
“It’s the first time in human history
that we are virtually divorcing ourselves
from the natural world,” warns Richard
Louv, author of The Nature Principle:
Human Restoration and the End of Nature-
Deficit Disorder. “ We can’t expect to make
such a sudden, drastic turn in our every-
day lives w ithout repercussions.”
It was Edward O. Wilson, known as the
father of sociobiology, who pioneered →
Up the
Garden
Path
If the closest you get to nature is an
image on your screen saver, science
recommends getting a better dose
of green. Here are three ways.
By Carsten Knox
Photographs by Alexi Hobbs
June 2013 mindful 35
nature